I'm Not Angry, I'm Just Sick
by TimelessMystery
Summary: When Craig fails to show up for school one day, Tweek can't help but thinking the worst. After going to his house to investigate, he finds his boyfriend sick on the couch and all alone. Taking care of your boyfriend when he's sick while having excessive levels of anxiety is never easy.


Tweek couldn't help the overwhelming sense of dread he felt when Craig didn't show up to school that morning. He knew he shouldn't have ended their nightly phone call short. He felt guilty, but he was just so tired, which was unusual for him, and he couldn't keep himself awake any longer. He had apologized about a hundred times, reassured by Craig each time that it was okay. He had hung up the phone, allowing himself to go to sleep.

When he woke up in the morning, he felt the best and most well-rested he had in a long time. He only had one cup of coffee, instead of his usual three and was eager to tell his boyfriend about his latest progress. Well, he was eager until he noticed that Craig was missing. He worried his bottom lip between his teeth nervously, glancing around the classroom, hoping that Craig was just running late and would pop into the classroom at the last possible second before the bell rang.

It was now ten minutes into class and still there was no Craig. They were in the same class and Craig knew how anxious he got when Craig decided to skip class. He was convinced that Craig would be expelled and forced to move, and he would never see him again. The only logical conclusion was that Craig had decided to stay home today. Was he avoiding Tweek? Jesus, this was way too much pressure! Craig had never been mad at him before! Frustrated, sure, but never mad! Fisting his messy blonde hair and giving a tug, he squeaked anxiously, earning a few perturbed looks from his classmates. He couldn't deal with this kind of pressure. He knew he was going to be a wreck all day. What had he done that made Craig not want to see him? He grabbed his things and darted from the classroom, making a quick pit stop at his locker before leaving the school completely and starting the trek to Craig's house. The temperature was well below freezing so Tweek huddled in on himself as he quickened his pace. Partially because he wanted to fix whatever he had done to upset Craig as soon as possible and partially because even after years of practice, he still lacked the ability to properly button a shirt causing the icy, Colorado air to nip at his exposed skin relentlessly.

The relief he felt as he approached the Tucker residence was short lived when he noticed Craig's car sitting in the driveway. Now Tweek was almost positive that his boyfriend was avoiding him. Craig never missed school, so he must be really angry if he chose to skip today. God, what a stupid idea it was to come here! He should just go back home, curl up in bed, and wallow in his self-pity. He should have known he'd manage to ruin his relationship eventually. Shaky fingers reached out to ring the doorbell and Tweek pulled at his hair while he waited for Craig to answer the door. If Craig was going to break up with him, he might as well get it over with as soon as possible. He didn't really want to break up with Craig. Hopefully he wasn't mad enough where he wouldn't even want to speak to Tweek. This whole ordeal was too much pressure. He was almost certain he should just quit while he was ahead and go home before Craig got even angrier with him.

"What did I tell you about pulling your hair?" Craig's nasally voice rasped from the doorway, causing Tweek to jump in surprise. He must have been so caught up with his thoughts that he didn't hear his boyfriend open the door.

"GAH! Craig, you scared me!" Tweek answered, putting his hands by his sides and grabbing onto the hem of his shirt, willing himself not to pull his hair. Making Craig even angrier with him was not a good plan at this point! "I know you're mad at me, so I just came here so you could break up with me and get it over with already."

"I'm not mad at you," Craig deadpanned, cocking an eyebrow. "Why would you think that?"

"B-because I fell asleep when I was talking to you last night!"

"I'm not mad at you and I'm not going to break up with you. I stayed home because I'm sick. You didn't get my text message?"

Tweek shook his head and patted his pockets, trying to feel for his cell phone. It wasn't there. He must've left it at home in his hurry to get to school to see Craig.

"N-no…" Tweek mumbled, lowering his head, ashamed. He had no idea what Craig saw in him. He was always making a mess of things; he felt like such a burden. This definitely wasn't the first time he had left his phone at home and then assumed the worst when he didn't hear from Craig right away.

"Hey…." Craig called, pulling his boyfriend into his arms. "Do you want to come inside?"

Tweek tensed in Craig's arms, and glanced up at him. Now he was going to get sick too and he could possibly die from being sick and this was too much! Craig raised an eyebrow at him expectantly, before a look of realization dawned on his paler than usual features. He reluctantly let his boyfriend go. Tweek hated germs. Usually Craig was pretty good about knowing what set his boyfriend off and avoiding it at all costs, or approaching it in a tactful way that helped him. Since he was sick he must have forgotten.

"Are you all by yourself?" Tweek questioned, trying to look into the house behind Craig. It was kind of a stupid question considering that Craig's car was the only one in the driveway.

"Yeah, but I'll be fine. You should go home and relax."

"But Craig," Tweek muttered, trailing off before continuing. "I don't want you to be all alone."

"I'm going to be fine, I promise. Text me when you get home," Craig said before shutting the door to his house. He knew his boyfriend well enough to cut off his protests, because if he hadn't Tweek would've never left Craig's house. He'd have just stayed there arguing with him all day, which wouldn't be good for either of them. Tweek would get more anxious and Craig would get sicker exposed to the cruel, Colorado air.

Tweek pouted and trudged his way home. He wished he wasn't so afraid of germs and getting sick, so he could take care of Craig. He was all by himself and he needed him! What if he was sick enough that he died? Then Tweek would be all alone and he wouldn't be able to live with the guilt; he'd be completely responsible for Craig's death! By the time he reached his house, he had picked his already bone dry hands to the point of bleeding. They bled normally as a result of excessive hand-washing. Tweek rarely picked them raw himself, but he couldn't help it. He was just so overwhelmed with his worry for Craig.

That's it. He had to do _something_ to help Craig.

He couldn't do much of anything while his hands were bleeding, so he went to fetch some bandaids. While in that drawer, he noticed a package of blue rubber gloves and face masks typically worn by Tweek when he was in one of his anxious fits and felt the need to clean everything. He gingerly bandaged his bleeding hands as he stared at the package. He knew exactly how to help Craig. Tweek was never one for running since he was terrified that he'd end up having an asthma attack and dying or passing out and dying or just something unpleasant in general that made his skin crawl with nerves. However, when he realized exactly how to help his sick boyfriend, he couldn't help it; he ran to the Tucker residence. He didn't want Craig to die while he was all alone! He wanted to do everything in his power to help him.

Slipping on his gloves and his face mask, he didn't bother to ring the doorbell, he just unceremoniously burst through the front door, his usually disheveled blonde hair looking even wilder, chest heaving with the strain of his mad dash to Craig. He heard a rather suspicious thunk coming from the general direction of the living room; he must have scared Craig when he burst into his house. Great. Now Craig was possibly dying of illness and now he was dying of a heart attack and Tweek just couldn't handle this! He didn't want to go to jail! He didn't want to be responsible for killing his boyfriend! This was too much pressure!

Taking a deep, shaky breath, he walked into the living room and fought back a giggle upon seeing the state Craig was currently in. He was thrashing his limbs violently, laying on the living room floor, trying to escape the layer of blankets he had wrapped himself in.

"Do you need help?" Tweek asked, walking over to his boyfriend, gently freeing him from his blanket cocoon.

"Tweek, I thought I said to go home and relax," Craig replied, stretching his long limbs out with a yawn. When he had fully processed just exactly what Tweek currently looked like, he didn't even bother to hide his grin and his eye roll at his boyfriend's antics. "Oh, Jesus Christ. What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to take care of you," Tweek protested with a pout, crossing his arms over his chest. He just wanted to help. He didn't come over here to be made fun of. He was worried about Craig, dammit. He wanted to be a good boyfriend and knew he was less likely to get sick with the gloves and mask. It was a pretty good compromise.

"Oh really? Are you going to be my sexy nurse?" Craig teased, getting up and plopping himself back on the couch.

"N-no!" Tweek squealed, face burning with embarrassment. He hurriedly picked the blankets up off the ground and re-covered Craig, tucking him in. Just his head was poking out and he looked really _really_ cute.

Tweek stalked off to the kitchen, opening up the cabinet where he knew the soup, tea, and coffee were stashed. He was here a lot and Mrs. Tucker made sure to always have coffee available for him. The one time she didn't, he had a pretty bad panic attack from caffeine withdrawal and it wasn't an event that anybody wanted to experience again. After preparing and flicking on the coffee pot for himself, Tweek got to work on preparing the tea and soup for Craig. It was what his mom usually did for him when he was sick and he hoped that it helped Craig the way it helped him. Tea was pretty self explanatory as well so he prepared a cup with all the basics and turned the burner on with the kettle. Now to focus on the soup.

His shaky hands gripped at the can as he opened it and dumped it into the pan he had found. He rarely cooked; it was too intimidating. He could start a fire any minute and if his food came out horrible he could end up with food poisoning and he didn't even want to think about how he would handle that situation if it arose. Canned soup was pretty self-explanatory though. You just dump it in the pan and heat it up. There was no way he could screw this up.

After preparing the various necessities, Tweek grabbed a tray, placing everything on it, and went back into the living room where Craig was watching Red Racer, still curled in his blankets. "Craig?" Tweek called, placing the tray on the table next to the couch and sitting on the floor by Craig's head.

"Mmm?"

"I made you soup and tea."

"Thanks," Craig responded, adjusting his position so that he was now sitting up on the couch. He took a spoonful of soup first and the face he made when he tasted it caused Tweek's stomach to sink. He knew he'd manage to fuck up soup.

"The fuck. Why is it so salty?"

"I don't know! I followed the directions on the can! I'm s-sorry Craig! I didn't mean to mess it up!"

"Did you add the water?"

"Water?"

"Yeah. You're supposed to put water in."

"S-shit! I didn't read that part. I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay. I wasn't really hungry anyways," Craig sniffed, grabbing for his tea and taking a drink. "This is good though. Thank you."

"You're w-welcome. I'm glad I didn't mess everything up."

"Tweek, you don't mess everything up. Not at all. And even if you do mess up, I don't care because I love you."

"I love you too, Craig." He was too sweet when he wanted to be. Tweek moved so he was now sitting next to Craig on the couch and gently plucked the cup of tea from his hands, placing it back on the table. Craig raised his eyebrows in question, but Tweek just gently pulled his head into his lap, tucking Craig back into his blankets. He then pulled off his gloves and face mask. If he was going to get sick, getting sick for Craig was worth it. He didn't care anymore. He pressed a kiss to his burning forehead and was met with a surprised pair of blue eyes. Craig didn't complain though.

Tweek shakily ran his fingers through his boyfriend's hair and smiled. "I love you so much Craig."

"I love you too," Craig replied, with a smile before closing his eyes. Usually he was the one running his fingers through Tweek's hair to relax him, but he supposed it worked the same for Craig.

After some time of watching TV, Tweek glanced down and noticed that Craig was sleeping. His face was completely relaxed with a ghost of a smile as his chest rose up and down with his light breathing. He looked cute. Well, he always looked cute, but he just looked a million times cuter when he was sleeping. He felt his own eyes grow heavy, having forgotten the coffee he made for himself in the rush of caring for Craig. He gave his boyfriend's lips a chaste kiss, before drifting off to sleep himself, fingers still tangled in Craig's black locks.

Tweek loved Craig more than anything and next time he got sick there was no doubt in his mind that he would be there again for him. He didn't care if he got sick, he just wanted to be there for his boyfriend. He was more than willing to give Tweek the world and he wanted to repay the favor in some way. Craig was the best thing that ever happened to him and he wanted to make sure he knew it.


End file.
